Lil Wayne headed 'straight to the studio' after leaving prison, says label head

Image Credit: Arnold Turner/WireImage.comLil Wayne is expected to finish his Rikers Island sentence next Thursday, Nov. 4. That very day, the rap megastar will likely make a bee-line for one of his favorite places on Earth: the recording studio.

“Me knowing Wayne, he’s going into the studio,” Cash Money label head Baby (a.k.a. Birdman) tells the Music Mix. “He hasn’t been able to rap for months. I think after seeing the family, popping a few bottles, it’s back to basics. Family first, that’s what we believe in, that’s what we’re loyal to. After that, I think the same day he comes home, he’s going to go straight to the studio.”

Wayne’s first priority when he enters the booth for the first time since March will be working on his long-promised project Tha Carter IV. Baby expects that album to arrive in the first quarter of 2011, though no release plans have been finalized.

Baby is also looking forward to working with Wayne on a sequel to Like Father, Like Son, the collaborative album that the mentor and protégé released in 2006. “We’re planning on putting that out Father’s Day weekend,” he says. So what should fans expect to hear next June? “Just me and Wayne being us, the father-son thing. [We’re] bringing that Cash Money/Young Money sound, that traditional hard-body rap, the music that we do together – that gangsta s—, straight up.”

The next year is shaping up to be a busy one for the label. Along with Tha Carter IV and Like Father, Like Son 2, Baby anticipates new releases from Cash Money/Young Money artists including himself, Drake, Jay Sean, Bow Wow, DJ Khaled, Tyga, Lil Twist, and more. Drake’s sophomore full-length will likely drop next summer. “He’s in the lab right now,” says Baby. “You never know with Drizzy – [the album will be done] whenever he’s ready.”